


Caught Feelvngs

by prettyboiiharringrove



Series: Prettyboii's Harringrove Halloween Countdown 2018 [8]
Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: Harringrove, M/M, all my shit is like hurt/comfort but not, and also didn't speak english or any other human language, big fucking mood tbh, harringrove au, harringrove drabble, harringrove fic, harringrove ficlet, i was trying to write harringrove ficlet and instead wrote harringrove fuck it, like if someone had to drunkenly guess what that was, what im saying is they need love and also i suck
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-09
Updated: 2018-10-09
Packaged: 2019-07-28 11:58:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 921
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16241156
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/prettyboiiharringrove/pseuds/prettyboiiharringrove
Summary: Harringrove Halloween Countdown // October 8 — Feelings and the future for most people are just there. Occasionally burdensome, but most times they just exist as part of our universe. In Steve and Billy's case they're a painful virus to which there is no cure, and their only form of coping is each other.





	Caught Feelvngs

Billy and Steve aren’t good for each other. Pretty much everyone in the entire goddamn universe knew that would be the case, but they continue to try, despite how much they suffer. Their problems aren’t what you would expect. Billy hasn’t hit Steve since their last altercation during basketball practice just before Billy apologized for being the world’s biggest asshole. Not a single bruise that Steve hadn’t begged for. They don’t really fight all that much, excluding their bickering, and the whole gay thing stops being as big of an issue once everyone in the whole town hears, especially when a girl two grades below you gets pregnant. Bigger news, the homophobic slurs are usually limited to once a week at most.

Their problems aren’t anything that makes any fucking sense really. No one understands them though. Steve can’t go to anyone else because they say his problem is that he cares to much. Billy can’t go to anyone else because they say his problem is that he’s paranoid.

Steve feels every emotion in waves, no matter who it belongs to, and the closer he gets to them, the stronger the feeling. Sometimes it feels like he’s drowning.

Billy sees everything before it happens, but can only change the smallest of details and is never able to run quite fast enough. Sometimes it feels like he’s sinking deeper and deeper into quicksand.

Steve gasps, clutching at his rib-cage as tears pool in his eyes. He wants to take care of Billy, he needs to get him some ice or help him take a nice shower. He trembles as he clutches at a wound that’s not there, winces when he tries to flex his hand and can’t because it feels as though it’s been burned. He’s on his knees before he even notices, trying to clutch at the counter to catch himself, but ultimately failing.

“Babe,  _baby_ ,” he barely hears Billy over the ringing in his ears. He reluctantly leans into his embrace, feeling guilty, because Billy’s the one with actual injuries, Steve just the one with phantom sensations tingling all over.

“How are you still standing??” he chokes out, gasping for breath. He’s starting to understand why Billy’s breath sounds so raspy all the goddamn time. He also realizes that he would be halfway to Neil’s house with the first kitchen knife he could get his hands on if he weren’t so stricken with fear — a genuine terror consumes the both of them, and he knows that’s pure Billy. Steve is  _not_  scared of the man that constantly torments his lover, he’s just a coward, a weak-willed man who deserves death, and that just may be the only gift Steve will ever give him. Still, right now, in this moment, the thought of facing him makes him ill.

“Been through this more times than you can count Stevie, and I’ve been bracing myself since yesterday,” he shrugs. He moves Steve so that he’s sitting on the kitchen floor with his back against the cabinets. Steve tries to pull in a few deep breaths as he tries to settle the nausea and sooth his aching bones. Billy stands for a moment, grabs a hand towel off of the counter, fills it with ice, and presses it too his jaw. They both sigh with relief. Billy moves to sit next to Steve and Steve leans over to rest his head on Billy’s shoulder.

“I’m never gonna get used to this.”

“Wish I had that problem,” Billy scoffs, but then immediately regrets it when he sees Steve frown. He lifts his uninjured hand and starts massaging Steve’s scalp, which manages to be a comforting gesture for them both.

“So this is why you were avoiding me?”

“I was not avoiding you.”

Steve huffs and shakes his head, but he moves closer to Billy. “I practically had to drag you here kicking and screaming. You were totally avoiding me.”

Billy accepts defeat easily, too exhausted to put up another fight.

“I didn’t think both of us should have to go through this,” he chews at his lip, already feeling guilty, and Steve has to swallow back his empathy and nausea so that he can tell Billy that what he, or rather they, are feeling is ridiculous. This isn’t Billy’s fault, and wanting to be loved and looked after isn’t wrong or odd.

“It’s sweet of you to try and protect me, but I didn’t ask you to, and I’d rather you come here and us both feel like this than you stay in that house all alone, okay?” Steve lifts his hand to gently hold Billy’s bruised jaw and Billy tries not to fixate on how it twitches, knows Steve is trying to ignore the burn.

“Alright boss, I’ll report to you first.”

“I’m serious dickhead. If you’ve got to go through it, you shouldn’t have to do it alone. I’m a big boy, I can take it. Come on, get out your crystal ball, tell me if I’m lying,” Steve teases, and finally some of the tension dies. Billy rolls his eyes but he can’t help but smile.

“That’s not how it works and you know it.”

“Yeah, but I’ll say anything to make you smile.”

Billy’s not sure how he didn’t see that coming, but he’s okay with that; he prefers the surprise. Steve may be the empath, but right now Billy’s the one that can feel the love radiating off of Steve and he wishes it could just swallow them both whole.


End file.
